Highlights of Friday’s games across the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system

Marilyn Green

04/16/2016

The Cardinals system was 3-1 on Friday. Our player of the day is Springfield pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon, who pitched a gem with no runs allowed in 7 1/3 innings, with seven strikeouts and no walks in Springfield’s shutout win over San Antonio.

It was a close game in Colorado Springs, as the 5-4 Redbirds lost a lead in the fifth inning, but poured it on in the final four innings to edge out the Sky Sox.

Starter Thomas Lee gave up a first inning run, but held the Sky Sox scoreless for the next three while the offense took the lead. But things fell apart for Lee in the fifth, as he yielded four more scores and the lead.

Ryan Sherriff finished the fifth with no additional damage. Justin Wright pitched a scoreless sixth, but Miguel Socolovich blew the save in the seventh with the help of his defense, which committed two errors and allowed three unearned runs. Socolovich was charged with four runs, one earned. Juan Gonzalez tossed the final two innings and earned the win.

The Memphis offense scored ten runs on 12 hits, with seven runs coming in the final four innings. Anthony Garcia hit the only long ball, a solo shot in the third inning. Matt Williams went 3-for-4 with two runs driven in; Garcia had two RBI of his own. Jacob Wilson, Carlos Peguero, Jonathan Rodriguez, Michael Ohlman and Nick Martini all plated runs. Patrick Wisdom was 2-for-3 and Alex Mejia was 2-for-5. Williams and Ohlman each scored twice.

Daniel Poncedeleon opened on the bump for the Cardinals and pitched a gem. Our Player of the Day went 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits while striking out seven and walking none. Unfortunately, the game was scoreless until after Poncedeleon left the game, so he didn’t get the win.

Reliever Chris Thomas finished the seventh and was the pitcher of record when the offense scored in the eighth, so he was awarded the win. Ronnie Shaban added the save.

The offense was rather sparse, but they scored two runs on three hits, which was enough to win. An eighth inning two-run home run by David Washington was the winner. The only other hits were a single from Harrison Bader and a double off the bat of Luke Voit.

Rehabbing St. Louis shortstop Ruben Tejada led off for Springfield (5-3), but after striking out in his first at-bat, he was removed from the contest.

All five Cardinals pitchers allowed runs but the club still carried the game into extra innings before falling to the Blue Jays on the road Friday. In the process, the 7-2 Cards had their six-game winning streak broken.

Starter Blake McKnight only went three innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on two hits. McKnight pitched to two batters in the fourth inning before being replaced by Pedro Echemendia, who stayed on to pitch the fifth and sixth, yielding two additional runs. Michael Heesch followed Echemendia and gave up two runs of his own. After Heesch came Rowan Wick, who allowed another run, and then Kyle Grana who finished by surrendering the winning run in the tenth. Wick was charged with a blown save and Grana took the loss.

Offensively, the Cardinals put seven runs on the board, but none after the sixth inning. The lack of scoring after the sixth allowed Dunedin to tie the game in the eighth, and win it in the tenth. Darren Seferina had the only multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Nick Thompson drove in two on his only hit, a double. Also plating runs were Mikey Reynolds and Blake Drake.

On the basepaths, Danny Diekroeger stole his first base in two attempts, while Seferina stole two bases, for a total of four on the season, in four attempts.

Chiefs starter Sandy Alcantara tossed six innings, allowing three runs on two hits, while striking out five and walking two. Steven De La Cruz and Landon Beck pitched in relief. De La Cruz was charged with a blown save, but after Peoria (4-4) came back, Beck secured the save, his first of the season.

The Peoria hitters scored three runs in the fourth inning, the first on a ground ball single by Magneuris Sierra. The next two came home on an error on a force attempt with Jose Godoy putting the ball in play and reaching second on a missed catch by the Wisconsin second baseman. Sierra and Edmundo Sosa scored from second and third on the error. The Timber Rattlers tied the game in the seventh, but a Vaughn Bryan double and a Casey Turgeon sac fly in the ninth plated the winning pair of runs. Thomas Spitz had the only multi-hit game, going 2-for-3.